Phiya Kushi's Blog: Musings on life and macrobiotics

Michio Kushi Memorial Service Speeches – Michael Potter

May 17, 2015

This post is part of a series presenting full transcripts of speeches given at the Michio Kushi Memorial Service in Boston on January 31, 2015.

MICHAEL POTTER

Greetings, I’m Michael Potter from Michigan, Eden Foods. I say, “Hello” to the Kushi family and to all of you. We have lost, humanity has lost a friend, a teacher, a great man. Our condolences to the family and especially to Midori, his wife. I like to believe – I like to think that Michio is in a more peaceful place now than he was here on earth now. Wendy Esko and I were commiserating the other day after learning of Michio’s passing and we concluded that Michio’s passing is the end of an epoch, about a 60 year epoch – 1954 to 2014 – 60 years.

I really do believe he is in a more peaceful place. And speaking about “peaceful”:

When I was a young man, a teenager – 18 years old, 19 years old – I was of the opinion and of the school of thought that revolution was a violent thing. Political power grew out of a barrel of a gun – Chairman Mao – things like that and I was involved with radical elements in my community. And, thank God! My sister handed me a book, “You Are All Sanpaku”! And I made a decision, as a teenager, okay, I’m not going try to change things by being violent. I am going to change things more fundamentally, more completely, more thoroughly, more effectively by focusing on diet; by focusing on the wisdom that my teachers, my macrobiotic teachers shared with me.

The “Order of the Universe” publications that I was reading at that time, they changed millions of people lives. They changed the direction of medicine, education, diet, agriculture. But, you know, I experience violent opposition to the change that wants to happen; that has been encouraged; that has been seeded by Michio. Ignoramus Press, by the Georges Ohsawa Macrobiotic Foundation, I was reading similar things at the same time.

The impact on humanity of macrobiotic teachings would be hard to over-estimate, in my opinion. Macrobiotic teachings stimulate – has stimulated the evolution of humanity and there is resistance to it.

Immediately preceding the beginning of the natural foods movement were the teachings of macrobiotics that were released to us and carried to us. After that, after the macrobiotic teachings happened, the natural foods phenomena began to happen all over the planet – Europe, Australia, Japan, United States. Macrobiotics was the origin of the natural foods movement. It’s largely been co-opted by big money interests, but that’s another story.

Universal consciousness was changed by macrobiotic teachers. Mine, yours, humanity’s consciousness has been changed and, you know, I watched as the planet changed. I watched as this universal consciousness was impacted by macrobiotic teachings. It’s more than spoken word or written word in books and lectures. It’s a consciousness amongst humanity that was impacted by macrobiotic teachings Macrobiotic principles – thank God I learned of them. You know I like to think that – I tell people –Eden Foods is a principled company – it’s a principled natural food company. I don’t often get to tell people though that those principles are the macrobiotic principles as defined, shared and taught to me by Michio Kushi.

The New York Times was in my office a little while ago and she was trying to get some understanding from me, “How did things start?” I don’t know how to answer her question accurately. I couldn’t even begin to think of a suitable answer. I went in to my closet and pulled out a stack of old “Order of the Universe”s. I put them on the table and I said, “That’s what started Eden Foods.” She got it.

And, I just want to, you know – in this environment and with you all, I just want to share – you know, I was thinking about coming here and being with you all and it’s an honor and I was driving in my car – “What am I going to say?” and I heard a song, “How do you sleep while your beds are burning?” Ladies and Gentlemen, our food, our medicine, our – you know – we are being poisoned! By and we need to – our beds are burning! How can we sleep? We have to address these matters agriculturally, food-wise and medicine-wise. Thank you.